Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD Ghana), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has organized a refresher training on the Community scorecard, Time Diary, and the Re-entry Policy for school-based girl child coordinators, head teachers, She Leads club patrons, community champions of change, and members of the She Leads Social Movement.
The training, held on September 23, 2024, in Wa, was part of the ongoing implementation of the She Leads project in the Upper West Region by CARD Ghana with support from Plan International Ghana.
The She Leads project is aimed at increasing the sustained influence of girls and young women on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions to address barriers to female empowerment.
In the Upper West Region, the project is being implemented in five communities within the Wa Municipality and some Senior High Schools, aiming to enhance the influence of girls and young women in leadership and decision-making spaces.
Speaking at the training, the Executive Director of CARD Ghana, Ms. Ernestina Biney said the training was designed to equip key stakeholders, including teachers and community champions, with the necessary tools to support girls and young women in leadership, while ensuring gender norms shift towards equality.
She took the participants through the practical use of the Community Score Card and Time Diary, both important tools for monitoring gender disparities and advancing gender equality in their respective schools and communities.
Ms. Biney also shared findings from a Time Diary report conducted in 2021 across the five project communities which illustrated the different roles assigned to males and females (boys and girls) within the household.
The report shed light on the time disparities between genders and the effect these roles have on the opportunities for girls to engage in leadership and education.
Madam Janet Kpan, the Upper West Regional Girl Child Coordinator at the Ghana Education Service (GES), led the session on the Re-entry Policy which allows pregnant girls to continue their education and return to school after childbirth.
She said the policy aims to prevent child marriages and give girls the chance to fulfil their education despite whatever mistake they may have made in becoming pregnant.
"The [Re-entry] policy came to ensure girls who face the challenge of early pregnancy do not lose out on their education to early marriage or school dropout. It is their right to continue schooling to become responsible people in the future," Madam Kpan said.
She indicated that the policy allows girls options to choose between returning to their former school or a new one to avoid stigma as well as entitlements to maternity breaks to ensure they can balance motherhood with their education without feeling left behind.
Pognaa Amamata Mumuni, the Wa Municipal Girl Child Coordinator and queen mother of Duori said that the effective implementation of the Re-entry Policy has been hampered by lack of awareness among most people in the communities.
She added that societal stigma attached to teenage pregnancy often discourages girls from returning to school saying that, many girls struggle with reintegrating into the educational system due to shame, peer judgment, and lack of community and parental support.
Madam Cynthia Berewono, a She Leads Club patron for Wa Senior High Technical School, said ignorance was a bane on the progression of girls through education, making them become pregnant at early ages and also unable to continue school during pregnancy and after childbirth.
She expressed optimism that with the training and knowledge gained teachers and other stakeholders would be well positioned to support pregnant girls and young mothers to acquire education.
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